Earlier today, I sent the following privately to a friend of mine,
recaping a dialog had on two different boards this weekend. On an
atheist board:
> Atheists to John: you're a theist, I don't care what you believe, or
> what you are, fuck off...
responding to Christian spamming of liberal Christians on a *Christian*
board:
> Fundamental Christians to John: You are going to Hell and you're not
> really a Christian...
The problem is:
> I like all the sides. I want to know what all of the sides think,
> how they got there, why they like what they believe.
The project that I sporadically try to work on at Former Gophers
(www.3wave.com/~prefect/) is directed to this goal: getting people to
talk without screaming at each other, simply because I think it's
interesting. Unfortunately, the end result on the Atheist board was that
I was booted out: not because I caused problems, or called people names,
or was confrontational, but because I professed to believe something
they did not.[1] It was all very discouraging, and I was really
beginning to wonder if there was anyone else besides me and about three
other people who had this kind of attitude; if maybe I was wrong about
the whole mess.
The DoT thread has demonstrated that there *are* more people out there,
and I'm already in dialog with them. This group has the most tolerant,
most thoughtful, and most intriquing participants of any I've ever been
involved in. So, thanks! I leave here this morning better than I've felt
all weekend. Odd for a Monday.
-- John
----
[1] Indeed, in the chat room in question, I was asked to leave when it
was discovered (through message base posts) that I considered myself a
theist. At that point, I had been involved in the chat room for three
days, and never once participated in any religious discussion.